R500m pink diamond at centre of court cases

A Russian oligarch, a rare R500-million pink diamond, a Johannesburg businessman and Interpol arrest warrants are the subjects of a multipronged international court case.

The South African leg of the court case begins today when business tycoon Zunaid Moti, his father, Abbas Aboo Baker Moti, and business associates Ashruf Kaka and Salim Bobat turn to the Pretoria High Court to fight the Interpol red notices issued for their arrest.

A red notice is issued by the international policing agency when countries are unable to arrest suspects who have fled their policing jurisdiction.

The court case will form part of broader international litigation in France, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and Dubai.

The four suspects are calling on the court to interdict the execution of the Interpol warrants, issued in June, alleging that they were fraudulently obtained by Russian telecommunications tycoon Alibek Issaev.

Allegations that I gave it to them as security is rubbish. I have all the original documents.

Sylla Moussa

They have accused Issaev, a former partner in their South African FerroChrome smelter business, of stealing the diamond from them after he told them he had found a buyer for it in Russia. He neither sold nor returned the gem.

They claim Issaev made the fraudulent charges against them after they had obtained an Interpol arrest warrant for him in relation to an intellectual property business deal which went wrong in Zimbabwe. They had his Dubai properties attached.

This case, under way for a year, will continue on Thursday in Dubai.

The four are, however, accused by international diamond dealer Sylla Moussa, who owns Sylla Diamond International, of stealing the diamond from him in 2013.

Kaka said they were asking the court for an undertaking that the warrants for their arrest be held in abeyance "pending the outcome of our matter with Interpol's oversight body in Lyon and the court cases which we have running in Lebanon, where we are challenging the original arrest warrants, Zimbabwe and Dubai".

Moussa said: "The Motis discovered I was in financial difficulties. They said they wanted to partner with me in my business. They sent Abbas to Geneva to view my diamond but it was under false pretenses.